From Deployment to Diploma: Ashley Figueroa, Computer Science Graduate

Ashley Figueroa '23 said earning her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science marked the end of a chapter that would open doors to the next one.

“It feels very unreal but at the same time very exciting,” she said. “It’s very exhilarating. This marks the end of not only my degree, but also my service.”

Serving in the Navy While Earning a Degree

Figueroa earned her bachelor’s degree while she was serving as a member of the U.S. Navy and credits her military benefits with helping her reach that finish line.

“I did six years in the Navy, and while I was serving I was able to complete my Bachelor of Science thanks to online learning and tuition assistance — and the benefits of serving your country in the military,” she said.

Choosing SNHU as a Military Student

She decided on Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) after returning from a deployment.

“It's funny because I actually got back from a deployment and googled top online schools in America and SNHU was number 3,” Figueroa said.

She said the user-friendliness and accessibility of enrollment plus the classes themselves lead her to choose SNHU.

“So they made it easy because the online website is very easy and instructive, and you can call and the advising team is very equipped to answer any questions you may have,” she said.

Transferring Military and Prior College Credits

At SNHU, Figueroa said she noticed the admission team had experience working with military service members.

“Really just being well-rounded and experienced in dealing with military personnel was the first thing I noticed when dealing with the admission process,” she said. “Because they understood not only the verbiage but also knew exactly how to navigate to get me started and have a great term.”

She said that she was able to transfer enough credits to count toward 75% of her degree. “It was around 80–90 credits already, and it takes 120 to graduate with your bachelor's,” Figueroa said.

Having the ability to transfer her credits from the military was encouraging. “It definitely saved me time and money and it's also very encouraging to military students to know that they accepted our military credits,” she said.

In fact, Figueroa said she was shocked her military credits were accepted. “I was actually very surprised — not many universities accept military credits, especially if you didn’t have any prior education,” she said.

Advisor Support and Choosing Computer Science

Figueroa said her advisor played an important role in her education experience, too.

“Well for one, you are definitely not a number at SNHU and I can attest to that because my advisor was probably the most monumental part of my education process,” she said. “He called me every time a term would start, the middle of term, check up on me to see how I'm doing with my classes.”

Figueroa chose computer science because it aligned with her military job. “I was an electronics technician," she said. "So I did a lot of work with computer programming, computer systems and weapons systems in the service.”

She hoped that earning this degree would open doors for her after leaving the military.

“I knew it was going to open a lot of doors for me with the CS degree,” she said. “Every military person should have an education under their belt.”

She said reaching this milestone felt like a dream come true after working so hard through her military career. “The moment feels like I said unreal,” Figueroa said, “It’s honestly one of the biggest milestones in my life.”

Tessé Allen-Albino is a content marketing assistant at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) where she is currently pursuing her bachelor's degree in computer science. Based in Ohio, she is a proud mother of two, and enjoys coaching soccer and playing video games in her free time. Connect with her on LinkedIn.